Gladys Strum

Who was Gladys Strum?

Gladys Grace Mae Strum was a Canadian politician.

Born in Gladstone, Manitoba, she moved to Saskatchewan when she was 16 to teach. She ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in 1938 and again in 1944. In 1944, she became president of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the first woman to occupy the position for a provincial party in Canada. She was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1945 for the riding of Qu'Appelle. She was only the fifth woman ever elected to the House of Commons and the only woman in the 20th Canadian parliament. She was defeated in 1949 and 1953.

In 1960, she was elected Saskatoon's first woman in the Saskatchewan legislature.